Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 10, 1990 TAG: 9003102402
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Just like Kyle Petty and Davey Allison, offspring of two other famous racing fathers, the son of two-time NASCAR champion Ned Jarrett figured to be on easy street.
Simply put, he would saunter into the Winston Cup garage, be handed a strong ride for a well-financed team and speed toward certain stardom.
A piece of cake, right?
Not exactly. Jarrett still hasn't been handed the slice he wants.
"I wish everything would have been as easy as everybody thought it would be," Jarrett said during a lunch break Thursday at Martinsville Speedway. "But this business is tough, awfully tough. My dad told me about this. He said that's one of the reasons he got out."
Well, young Jarrett wants out, too - out of NASCAR's minor league, that is.
"I didn't want to come back here," said Jarrett, who ran the Grand National tour before spending most of the past three seasons on the major-league Winston Cup circuit.
"It's not where I want to be. I just think I need to be in Winston Cup racing. I feel like I deserve to be there."
But after Winston Cup car owner Cale Yarborough failed to renew his contract for 1990, Jarrett reluctantly found himself back on racing's bushes.
"I did the best I could for Cale for the better part of two years," Jarrett said. "At the end of the last season, we started to run really well when we got some equipment to work with.
"Right here, last fall, we showed we could run [he finished fifth in the Goody's 500 in September]. I thought surely I would be back after that."
Jarrett now knows there are no sure things in NASCAR racing.
When Yarborough lost his team's sponsor, he notified Jarrett on Oct. 9 to get his bags ready.
"My contract option wasn't up until Oct. 1, so it really tied my hands as far as talking to other teams," Jarrett said. "It just came awfully late. I had a couple of opportunities, but I couldn't do anything."
In order to keep driving a race car, Jarrett had no choice but to retreat.
"There's just so much uncertainty in stock car racing," Jarrett said. "There's no security with your job. That's the one thing I really dislike about the sport. It doesn't seem that ability is what matters.
" . . . Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not the only one sitting on the sideline, so to speak. I'm not crying the blues. I'm in the same position they are.
"But I don't want to get rich or have some big personal-services contract. I just want to make a comfortable living for myself and my family.
"Most of all, I just want to drive a race car."
While waiting for the call back to the majors, Jarrett will have to keep his skills honed on the GN tour. He has finished ninth, fourth and seventh in the first three events this year and ranks third in GN points.
But Jarrett had to swallow a bitter pill March 3 at Rockingham, N.C. He blew the Goodwrench 200 when he got tangled up with a slower, lapped car with three laps left in the race. Dale Earnhardt won; Jarrett finished seventh.
"It hurt; It hurt a lot," he said.
" . . . But looking back, even if I had won, it wasn't going to get me a Winston Cup car this week."
Next week, though, it might.
Until then, Jarrett will have to wait. And wonder who stole that free pass he was supposed to have been promised.
by CNB